Monday, December 29, 2008

Look at all the snow at Forest Lakes! There was over four feet! It was such a beautiful drive through the forest with all the snow.We couldn't drive into the cabin so we parked in the front.

Grandpa pulled the girls in on a sled!

Carys thought this was great fun!

It was a beautiful day for beautiful girls to spend in the snow!

Carys is nice and warm with her new Christmas coat!

The girls fell down in the snow and couldn't stop giggling!

Madison thought the glistening snow was perfect fun for everyone!

Carys had fun crunching her feet in the snow and pulling Maddie!

Carys and Grandpa had fun sledding in the snow!

Madison loves to go sledding with her sister Carys!

Little Evan had great fun with the girls too! He loved sledding too!

Madison loves her Grandpa no matter what they are doing!

I didn't realize how much fun you could have in the fluffy snow. I'm glad I found some snow bibs in the garage. It is really nice to play in the snow when you can stay warm.

The sun was out so it was a great day for sledding!

We spent a wonderful afternoon at the cabin . Marisol and Evan drove over from Pinetop to join us in the fun. It was such a beautiful day and the only thing I would change is that next time we will have snow pants for the girls. Marisol picked up some snow pants for the girls on the way home so next time they will be able to play longer and not get wet. If you like to play in the snow on a sunny day Forest Lakes is great place to go. We had a blast in the glistening snow!

Sunday, December 28, 2008

This year we had the Christmas Eve party at my sister Susan's home! Everything was so beautiful and the food was delicious!All of my Mom and Dad's kids, grandkids and great-grandkids were at the party. We thought is was wonderful that every single member of the family was together this year!We were fortunate to have Jessie and Jason drive all the way from Utah to spend time with us this year.Emily came all the way from North Carolina to be with us. Stacey and LeGrand made some yummy mexican food for the party. Everyone brought some mexican food to share at the Christmas Eve feast! This was the first time we had mexican food. The kids portrayed the nativity -- a wonderful family Christmas tradition. It was so quiet and peaceful as Nicole and Johnny narrated the Christmas story. Cody portrayed Joseph, Presley portrayed Mary and Tess portrayed sweet baby Jesus. There were angels, shepherds and wisemen too. This is my favorite part of the evening as the love of Christ is always felt during this special time each year. The kids are so adorable!

Stephanie's kids sang a Christmas song and Stephanie sang Mary's Lullaby. This is always very touching and another beautiful Christmas Eve tradition!The girls in the nativity were so sweet and beautiful! They love the beautiful Christmas music and listened carefully to the story of Jesus's birth.

My Dad read the special story "Twas the Night before Christmas" to the kids before Santa came to visit! His mom used to read him this story when he was a little boy.

Stacey and the kids sang some fun songs before Santa's arrival.

Sydney was excited to get the first gift from Santa!

Madison enjoyed a gift and spending time with Santa too!

Another cute pose with Braden and Santa.

Evan enjoyed a gift from Santa too.

Alyssa is our oldest grandchild but she is not too old for Santa.

Carys also enjoyed a picture with Santa along with her gift!

The great-grandkids and younger grandkids pose together after each child received a gift and was able to visit with Santa Claus.

After Santa's visit we had the traditional White Elephant gift exchange.

We sang some songs with the Singing Machine. I didn't get a picture but Jack and Matt really had fun singing and the kids had fun singing and dancing! We were excited to get a four generation picture with Sadie's Great-Grandma Pearl, Cheryl, Emily and little baby Sadie.

Tom and I have loved spending time with all of our beautiful grandchildren!

It was so fun to be able to hold baby Sadie. I hadn't held her for over two months. Isn't she so adorable and precious!

On Christmas morning Jacob loved all the excitment of the Christmas season!

Carys loved the baby dolls that she opened on Christmas morning!

Jana looks beautiful after working all night on Christmas Eve!

I had fun with Mike and Emily shopping the day after Christmas. The are such good parents to Sadie. Aren't they a cute little family!

We watched Stephnie's kids when they went to the temple. Cute baby Jaron had so much fun on the clippity-clop horse!

We were so glad that Evan, Marisol and the kids could drive all the way from Pinetop to spend time with us! They had to leave on Saturday since Evan is coaching the high school basketball team.

On Sunday we were so happy that Sadie went to church with us.

We have had such a wonderful Christmas! We were so blessed to have our whole family together this year!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Tom celebrated another birthday. He was out of town on his birthday but we celebrated when he got back with his favorite cake which is carrot cake. We also spent an evening out at the movies. So fun!! I'm so grateful that Tom is such a good example to each of our children. He's a wonderful friend and husband!